The present invention relates generally to equipment generally used in panning and mining operations. More specifically, the present invention relates to classifiers, which are used to sift through dirt, rocks, and minerals that have been dug or dislodged from the ground, so that different sized chunks of material are separated from the rest. The classifier assembly includes a main body member, which is preferably adapted to be received into the top portion of a round bucket or similar container, and includes a series of holes in a bottom portion thereof. The main body member may be placed into the top portion of a bucket that contains water, so that the water level is positioned above the bottom of the main body member. A load of dirt, containing rocks, minerals, gemstones, and the like, may be loaded into the main body member so that the water at least partially covers the load, and an operator may agitate the particulate within the water, so that the particulate that is small enough to fall through the holes in the main body member may fall through, while the larger particulate remains within the main body member. Additionally, a series of trays having a mesh bottom may be inserted into the main body member, in order to catch smaller particulate. Each tray includes a screen or mesh having different sized openings therein, and the operator may select which tray he or she desires, based on the size of particulate that he or she is trying to capture or separate from the rest of the load.
Heretofore, many different devices have been developed and commercialized to separate different sized particulate and sediment in mining operations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,241 discloses a gold panning and classifying method and system including a generally rectangularly shaped gold pan having diverging side panels and a plurality of valleys and ridges in the front panel. A plurality of nesting classifying screens are included to effect a first separation of material into portions composed of equivalent size particles. The unique shape of the pan employs gravity separation techniques for separating fine sands from gold and gold dust.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,994 is directed to a gold mining pan having riffle-like slits or grooves in the bottom and a device for separating the material contained in the slits or grooves from the remainder of a slurry contained within the pan. The pan may also include a device for removing the material contained within the slits from the pan.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,436 describes an apparatus for recovering silver from spent photographic solutions comprising a tray with a number of non-reactive filter elements having successively smaller porosity through which the spent solutions can be passed. Each successive filter element prevents silver particles of progressively smaller sizes suspended in the liquid from passing therethrough. The filters are stacked in a horizontal position within the tray and a tray cover sits on top of the tray, the cover having an opening into which the developing solutions can be poured. The tray includes a drainage port which allows liquid passing through the filters to drain out of the tray.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,269 is directed to a sluice box classifier for a sluice box of a gold mining dredge including a trough and a rim secured to an underside of the trough. The rim anchors the trough to a standard size container. The trough is formed of four walls and a bottom, and is at least as wide as a lower end portion of the sluice box from which collected overburden is received. The bottom includes a center panel and two floor panels which slope upwardly from opposite sides of the center panel to meet opposite sidewalls of the trough. The floor panels funnel overburden deposited into the trough from the sluice box to the center panel, where a plurality of openings in the center panel allows the smaller pieces of overburden to pass through into the container. A portion of a front wall of the trough is bent outwardly of the trough to cooperate with an angle member so as to form a slot which connects the trough to the sluice box.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,034 discloses an apparatus to separate heavier metal particles from lighter particles gangue in a fluidic medium by gravity and fluid flow. A vertical container provides a lower fluid input chamber that communicates through a medial structure providing a plate defining a plurality of valve ports, a screen, and a plate defining a plurality of holes to an upper chamber carrying particulate material to be beneficiated. Pressurized water flows upwardly through the medial structure to separate more dense metal bearing particles in the medial structure and gangue exits from a central orifice defined in the medial portion of the separating structure.